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GARFIELD 
Speech. 


E 

681 

G24 


No.  24.1  t16  PP 

SIPEEGH 


OF 

* 

HON.  JAMES  A.  GARFIELD, 

Ml 
OF   OHIO, 


DELIVERED  AT 


CLEVELAND,   OHIO, 


OCTOBER  11,  1879. 


WASHINGTON,  D.  O,» 

18SO, 


8  P  E  E  C  H 

OF 


AT 


CLEVELAND,  OHIO,  OCTOBER  11,  1879. 


FELLOW-CITIZENS:  The  distinguished  gentlemen  who  have  preceded  ine 
have  covered  the  grbund  so  completely  and  so  admirably  that  I  have  a  very 
eaisy  task.    I  -will  pick  up  a  few  straws  here  and  there  over  that  broad  field  ana" 
ask"  you  for  a  few  moments  to  look  at  them.     I  take  it  for  granted  that  every 
thoughtful,  intelligent  man  would  be  glad,  if  he  could,  to  be  on  the  right  side, 
believing  that  in  the  long  run  the  right  side  will  be  the  strong  side.    I  take  it- 
for  granted  that  every  man  would  like  to  hold  political  opinions  that  will  live 
some  time,  if  lie  could.    It  is  a  very  awkward  thing  indeed  to  adopt  a  political 
opinion,  and  trust  to  it,  and  lind  that  it  will  not  live  over  night.    [Laughter.}'- 
It  would  be  an  exceedingly  avdayard  thing  to  go  to  bed  alone  with  your  politi- 
cal doctrine,  trusting  and  believing  in  ic,  thinking  it  is  true,  and  wake  up  iu  - 
the  morning  and  find  it  a  corpse  in  your  arms.    [Laughter.]    * 

I  should  be  glad  for  my  part  to  hold  to  a  political  doctrine  that  would  live  al) 
through  summer,  and  stand  the  frost,  and  stand  a  freeze  in  the  winter,  and 
come  out  alive  and  true  in  the  spring.  [Laughter.]  I  should  like  to  adopt  po- 
litical doctrines  that  would  live  longer  than  my  dog.  [Laughter.]  I  should  be 
glad  to  hold  to  a  political  doctrine  that  would  live  longer  than  I  shall  live,  and 
that  my  children  after  me  might  believe  in  as  true,  and  say,  "  This  doctrine  is- 
true  to-day,  and  it  was  true  fifty  years  ago  when  my  father  adopted  it." 

Every  great  political  party  that  has  done  this  country  any  good  has  given  to  - 
it  some  immortal  ideas  that  have  outlived  all  the  members  of  that  party.    The 
old  Federal  party  gave  great,  permanent  ideas  to  this  country  that  are  still  alive. 
The  old  Whig  party  did  the  same.    The  old,-the  veiy  old,  Democratic  party  dici  * 
the  same.    [Laughter.]    The  party  of  Andrew  Jackson.  Uenton  and  Calhoim. 
But 

THE  MODKRN   DEMOCRATIC   PAKTY 

has  given  this  country  in  the  last  twenty  years  no  idea  that  has  lived  to  be  - 
tour  years  old.    [Laughter.]    I  mean  an  idea,  not  a  passion.    The  Democratic 
"party  has  had  passions  that  have  lasted  longer  than  that.    They  have  had  an 
immortal  appetite  for  office.    [Laiighter.]    That  is  just  as  strong  to-day  as  it  t 
tva*  twenty  years  ago.    Somebody  has  called  the  Democratic  party  tv  an  organ- 
ized appetite. "   [Laughter.]   But  that  is  not  an  idea;  that  is  ot  the  ty      laugh-- 
cer]  and  not  of  the  heart,  nor  of  the  brain.    1  say  again  they  have  gi        Jo  tins  •> 
country  no  great  national  idea  or  doctrine  that  has  lived  to  be  four  y  «trs  old  ; 
and  if  we  had  in  this  great  park,  as  in  a  great  field,  herded  here  together  all  the 
Ideas  that  the  Democratic  party  has  uttered  and  put  forth  in  the  last  twenty  • 
years,  there  would  not  be  found  a  four-year-old  in  the  lot,  [laughter] — hardly  a 
three-year-old — hardly  a  two-year-old.    They  have  adopted  a  doctrine  just  to- 
last  till  election  was  over,  and  if  it  did  not  succeed,  they  have  dropped  it  to  try  < 
another ;  and  they  have  tried  another  until  it  failed,  and  then  tried  another  ; , 


and  it  has  been  a  series  of  mere  trials  to  catch  success.  Whenever  they  have 
started  in  a  campaign,  they  have  looked  out  to  all  the  political  barns  to  see  how 
the  tin  roosters  were  pointing,  to  learn  from  the  political  weather-cocks  which 
way  the  wind  is  likely  to  blow  ;  and  then  they  have  made  their  doctrines  ac- 
cordingly. [Laughter  and  applause^]  This  is  no  slander  of  the  Democratic 
party.  As  my  friend  Mr.  Foster  has  said,  this  is  true  not  so  much  of  the  body 
of  the  party  as  of  the  leaders.  What  a  dance  they  have  put  the  good,  sound, 
quiet,  steady-going  Democrat  through  during  the  last  twenty  years  !  [Laugh- 
ter.] They  "made  him  denounce  our  war  for  a  long  time ;  and  then,  when  it  was 
all  over,  they  made  him  praise  it.  [Laughter.]  They  made  him  vote  with  a 
party  that  called  our  soldiers '"Lincoln's  hirelings  "  and  "  Lincoln's  dogs;" 
and  this  very  day  one  of  the  men  who  did  that  is  parading  up  and  down  this 
State  praising  the  Democratic  party  because  it  has  two  soldiers  at  the  head  of 
its  ticket,  and  sneering  at  us  because  Mr.  Foster  was  not  a  soldier  in  the  field. 

That  party  has  taken  both  sides  of  every  great  question  in  this  country  in  the 
last  twenty  years.  They  are  in  favor  of  the  war — after  it  is  over.  [Laughter.] 
They  are  in  favor  of  hard  money — or  they  will  be  next  year,  after  it  is  an  ac- 
complished fact.  They  were  opposed  to"  greenbacks  when  greenbacks  were 
necessary  to  save  the  life  of  the  nation,  and  when  they  thought  it  would  be  pop- 
ular to  oppo-e  greenbacks.  The  moment  they  found  it  was  unpopular  they 
faced  the  o'  her  way,  and  declared  that  the  greenback  was  the  best  currency  the 
world  ever  saw. 

I  world  like  to  ask  that  good,  old,  quiet 'Democrat  how  he  has  felt  when  they 
have  t--!d  him  to  vote  against  the  war  one  year  and  then  praise  it  the  next,  and 
he  had  to  follow  his  leaders  all  the  while,  how  he  felt  when  they  told  him  to 
curse  greenbacks,  and  he  voted  the  ticket,  and  then  when  they  ordered  him  to 
Wheel  right  around  on  his  heel  and  march  the  other  way,  and  vote  the  Demo- 
cratic ticket  all  the  time.  They  told  him,  for  example,  that  the  proposition  to 
let  the  negro  have  his  freedom  was  an  outrageous  thing  that  must  not  be  list- 
ened to,  and  he  voted  the  Democratic  ticket.  A  little  while  after  they  came 
around  and  said  :  •*  We  will  enforce  all  the  amendments  of  the  Constitution, 
the  negro  amendment  among  the  rest,  and  we  are  among  the  best  friends  that 
the  negro  ever  had.>?  -And  yet  he  voted  with  them  every  time,  [laughter,] 
facing  right  the  other  way.  When  we  proposed  to  give  the  ballot  to  the  negro, 
they  frdid  :  "  Why.  he  is  an  inferior  race.  God  made  him  to  be  a  hewer  of  wood 
and  a  drawer  of  water.  He  is  inferior  to  us.  He  is  of  bad  odor,  and  bad  every 
way.  of  low  intelligence,  and  we  will  never,  never  allow  him  to  vote."  What 
do  t  i  M-V  say  now  V  Tl  ley  are  cooing  and  billing  with  every  negro  that  will  listen 
to  them,  and  asking  him  to  vote  the  Democratic  ticket.  They  are  saying  to 
him.  "My  friend,  the  Democratic  party  was  always  a  good  friend  of  the  negro. 
[Laughter.]  The  Democratic  party  knows  the  negro  better  than  the  Republi- 
cans do.  We  have  been  nearer  to  you,  We  know  your  habits.  [Laughter.] 
We  understand  your  character  and  we  can  do  you  more  good."  Yes,  they  have 
been  nearer  to  you.  The  fellow  that  flogs  you  with  a  cat-o '-nine-tails  has  to  be 
pretty  near  to  you.  [Laughter.]  They  have  a  warm  feeling  for  you.  [Laugh- 
ter.] The  man  that  brands  your  cheek  with  a  red-hot  iron  gets  up  a  good  deal 
of  warmth  towards  you.  [Laughter.] 

But,  my  friends,  the  curious  thing  is  how  a  steady-going,  consistent  Demo- 
crat can  have  followed  all  these  crooks  and  turns  and  facings-about  of  his  party 
In  all  these  years,  and  not  have  gotten  dizzy  by  turning  so  frequently.  [Laugh- 
ter.] They  shouted  for  hard  money  and  he  voted  the  Democratic  ticket.  They 
Bhouted  for  soft  money  and  he  voted  the  Democratic  ticket.  They  said  the 
three  amendments  to  the  Constitution  were  void  and  should  not  be  obeyed,  and 
he  voted  the  Democratic  ticket.  They  walked  right  put  to  the  next  great  elec- 
tion bringing  Horace  Greeley  in  their  arms  and  said.  "  We  will  carry  out  all 
the  amendments  to  the  Constitution  ;  we  will  be  the  best  friend  of  the  slave  in 
the  world,"  and  he  voted  the  Democratic  ticket,  [laughter,]  following  in  the 
Same  wake. 

Now,  my -friends,  there  has  not  been  a  leading  prophecy,  there  has  not  been 
a  leading  doctrine  put  forward  by  the  Democratic  party  in  all  these  years 
that  it  has  not  itself  abandoned.  I  dp  not  believe  there  is  a  fair-minded  Dem- 
ocrat here  to-night  who  does  not  rejoice  in  his  soul  that  his  party  has  aban- 
doned the  leading  doctrines  of  the  last  twenty  years.  [Laughter!]  Are  yon 


sorry,  my  Democratic  friend,  that  slavery  is  dead  ?  I  believe  you  are  not. 
Then  you  are  glad  that  we  outvoted  you  when  you  tried  to  keep  it  alive.  [Ap- 
plause.] Are  you  sorry  that  rebellion  and  secession  are  dead  ?  If  you  are  not, 
then  you  are  glad  that  you  were  overwhelmed  and  outvoted  when  you  tried  to 
keep  the  party  that  sustained  them  alive.  [Applause.]  Are  you  glad  that  our 
war  was  not  a  failure  V  If  you  are,  you  are  glad  that  we  voted  you  down  in 
1864,  when  your  central  doctrine  was  "that  the  war  was  a  failure  and  must  be 
stopped.  If  yoii  are  glad  of  so  many  things,  will  you  not  be  glad  when  we  have 
voted  down  your  party  next  Tuesday  and  elected  Charley  Foster  governor  of 
Ohio?  [Applause.  A  voice,  "  We  are  going  to  do  it  for  a  fact.'1]  You  are 
going  to  do  it.  I  have  no  doubt. 

WHY  REPUBLICANS  WILL  SUCCEED. 

There  are  two  great  reasons  why  the  people  of  this  State  are  going  to  do  it). 
One  is  that  they  do  not  intend  to  allow  any  more  fooling  with  the  business  ot 
this  country.  [Applause.]  For  the  last  four  years  the  chief  obstacles  in  the 
way  of  the  restoration  of  business  prosperity  and  the  full  employment  of  labor 
In  this  country  has  been  the  danger  threatened  to  you  by  the  politicians  in  Con- 
gress. [Applause.]  Business  has  waited  to  awaken.  Prosperity  has  been  try« 
mg  to  come.  General  Ewing  tells  us  that  it  is  Divine  Providence  and  a  goo<| 
crop  that  brought  revival  of  business  this  year.  I  remind  General  Ewing  that 
we  had  a  bountiful  crop  last  year,  and  business  did  not  revive.  I  remind  him 
that  the  year  before  was  a  year  of  great  harvest  and  plenty,  and  prosperity  did 
not  come. 

E WING'S  GOSPEL. 

Do  you  know  that  when  we  commenced  this  campaign  General  Ewing  began 
to  preach  his  old  sermon  of  last  year — his  gospel  of  gloom,  and  darkness,  and 
listress,  and  misery  ;  and  some  of  his  friends  said  :  "  But  see  here,  Ewing,  the 
furnaces  are  aflame ;  the  mills  are  busy.  It  will  not  do  to  talk  that  these  peo- 
ple are  all  in  distress."  And  for  a  week  or  two  Mr.  Ewing  denied  that  there 
was  any  revival  of  business.  He  denied  it  flatly.  But  every  mill  roared  in  his 
ears,  and  every  furnace  and  forge  flashed  in  his  eyes  the  truth  that  there  was  a 
revival  of  business ;  and  then  for  aboiit  four  days  he  undertook  to  say  that  it  waa 
i  campaign  dodge  of  the  Republican  party,  [laughter;]  that  they  started  up  a 
few  iron-mills  until  election  to  affect  the  election .  But  that  would  not  work ,  for 
Democratic  States  began  to  start  their  iron-mills,  [laughter;]  rebel  States  began  to 
Doom  in  business,  and  that  second  explanation  of  Mr.  Ewing's  would  not  work. 
Then  he  undertook,  and  is  still  undertaking,  to  explain  this  prosperity  away. 
[  heard  a  gentleman  lately  tell  an  incident  that  illustrates  this  futile  attempt  o| 
Mr.  Ewing.  England  wanted  Garibaldi  manned  to  some  distinguished  Eng« 
lish  lady  so  as  totally  free  Italy  to  England.  They  got  it  well  talked  up  in  dip- 
lomatic circles,  but  finally  some  unfortunate  fellow  suggested  a  fact  that  dis- 
turbed their  calculations.  It  was  that  Garibaldi  was  married,  [laughter  :J  that 
he  had  a  young,  healthy  wife,  likely  to  outlive  him.  The  old  diplomatist,  not 
bo  be  balked  by  any  obstacles,  said  :  "  Never  mind,  we  will  get  Gladstone  toex> 
plain  her  away."  [Laughter.]  Gladstone  is  a  very  able  man,  but  when  he  afe» 
tempts  to  explain  away  as  real  a  thing  as  a  woman,  [laughter,]  and  a  wife  at 
that,  he  undertakes  a  great  contract.  [Laughter.]  Thomas  Ewing  is  not  any 
ibler  than  Gladstone,  and  his  attempt  to  explain  away  this  prosperity  of  oui? 
country  will  be  more  disastrous  than  the  attempt  of  Gladstone  would  have  been 
if  he  had  made  it.  [Applause  ;  cries  of  "  Hear ! "  "  Hear  I  "]  Everywhere  hd 
?oes  it  meets  him. 

THE  REVIVAL  OF  BUSINESS. 

Pig  iron  in  this  country,  the  lowest  form  of  the  iron  product,  has  risen  in 
price  almost  thirteen  dollars  the  ton  since  resumption  came,  [applause,]  and  all 
industries  depending  upon  it  have  risen  in  proportion.  My  only  fear— and  I  say 
it  to  the  business  men  around  me  to-night — is  that  the  revival  of  business  is 
coming  too  fast,  and  that  we  may  overdo  it  and  bring  a  reaction  by  and  by* 
But  that  prosperity  has  come,  and,  if  we  do  not  abuse  it,  has  come  to  stay,  I 
have  no  doubt.  I  do  not  claim  that  the  resumptron  of  specie  paymentshas  done) 
it  at  all.  I  admit  that  the  favorable  balance  of  trade,  that  the  operation  of  omf 


6 

tariff  laws,  that  our  own  great  crops  and  tbe  failure  of  crops  in  Europe  have 
done  much  to  secure  and  aid  this  revival  of  business. 

But  there  is  an  element  in  this  revival  distinctly  and  markedly  traceable  to 
the  resumption  of  specie  payments,  and  I  ask  your  indulgence  for  a  half  a  min- 
ute  to  state  it. 

WHAT  RESUMPTION  HAS  DONE. 

All  over  this  country  there  was  hidden  away  in  the  hands  of  private  men, 
In  stocking  feet,  in  tills,  in  safes,  capital  that  they  dared  not  invest.  Why  ? 
Because  they  did  not  know  what  Congress  would  do ;  whether  it  would  vote 
their  prosperity  up  or  down,  whether  the  wild  vagaries  of  fiat  money  should 
rule  or  whether  the  old  God-made  dollar  of  the  Constitution  and  the  fathers, 
the  hundred-cent  dollar,  the  dollar  all  round,  should  come  to  be  our  standard  or 
not ;  and  they  waited.  But  the  moment  our  Government,  in  spite  of  the  Dem- 
ocratic party,  in  spite  of  the  fiat-money  party,  in  spite  of  all  croakers  of  all 
parties,  resolved  to  redeem  the  great  war  promises  of  the  nation ,  and  lift  our  cur- 
rency up  to  be  asgood  as  gold  the  world  over,  that  moment  the  great  needed  resto- 
ration of  confidence  came,  and  when  it  came,  capital  came  put  of  its  hiding 
places  and  invested  itself  in  business.  [Applause.]  And  that  investment,  that 
confidence,  that  stability,  gave  the  grand  and  needed  impetus  to  the  restoration 
-of  prosperity  in  this  country. 

Now,  what  has  been  the  trouble  with  us  ?  Eighteen  hundred  and  sixty  was 
•one  shore  of  prosperity  and  1879  the  other  :  and  between  those  two  high  shores 
has  flowed  the  bread,  deep,  dark  river  of  fire  and  blood  and  disaster  tlirough 
which  this  nation  has  been  compelled  to  wade  [applause]  and  in  whose  depths  it 
has  been  almost  suffocated  and  drowned.  In  the  darkness  of  that  terrible  pas- 
6age  we  carried  liberty  in  our  arms  ;  we  bore  the  Union  on  our  shoulders  ;  and 
we  lx)ro  in  our  hearts  and  on  our  arms  what  was  even  better  than  liberty  and 
Union — we  bore  the  faith  and  honor  and  public  trust  of  this  mighty  nation. 
{Applause.]  And  never,  until  we  came  up  out  of  the  dark  waters,  oiit  of  the 
darkness  of  that  terrible  current,  and  planted  our  feet  upon  the  solid  shore  of 
1879— never,  I  say,  till  then  could  this  country  look  back  to  the  other  shore  and 
feel  that  its  feet  were  on  solid  ground,  and  then  look  forward  to  the  rising  up- 
lands of  perpetual  peace  and  prosperity  that  should  know  no  diminution  in  the 
•years  to  come.  [Applause.] 

I  rejoice,  for  my  part,  that  the  party  to  which  1  belong  has  not  been  fighting 
•against  God  in  this  struggle  for  prosperity.  ['Applause.]  I  rejoice  that  the 
.party  to  which  I  be-long  has  not  had  its  prospects  hurt  by  the  coming  of  pros- 
perity. ("Applause.]  Can  you  say  so  much,  my  Democratic  friend,  for  your 


irty  V  Would  it  not  have  been  better  for  you  at  the  polls  next  Tuesday  if  the 
blight  had  fallen  upon  our  great  corn  crop,  if  the  Colorado  beetle  had  swept 
-every  potato  field  in  America,  if  the  early  fruit  had  smitten  us  all  V  Dont  you 
think  Mr.  Ewing  could  then  have  talked  more  eloquently  about  Uu-  grief,  and 
suffering,  and  outrage,  and  hard  times  brought  upon  you  by  the  Republican 
policy  of  resumption?  [Applause  and  laughter.]  1  should  be  ashamed  to  be- 
long to  a  political  party  who.-o  prospects  won;  hurt  by  the  blessing  of  my 
.country. 

But  it  so  was  all  during  the  war.  Just  before  election  day  time  in  Ohio  dur- 
ing the  war,  a  great  battle  that  won  a  victory  over  the  rebellion  hurt  the  Dem- 
ocratic party  in  this  State,  and  they  walked  about  our  streets  looking  down 
their  noses  in  sadness  and  gloom,  recognizing  that  their  ballots  would  be  fewer 
on  election  day  because  of  the  success  of  our  arms ;  and  if  our  soldiers  were 
overwhelmed  in  battle,  if  five  thousand  of  your  children  were  slaughtered  on 
the  field  by  the  enemies  of  the  Republic,  the  Democrats  in  Ohio  walked  more 
confidently  to  the  polls  on  election  day,  and  paid:  -'Didn't  I  tell  you  so V" 
[Applause.]  There  is  something  wrong  with  a  party  about  which  those  things 
<sould  be  truthfully  said,  and  you  know  that  they  are  the  truth. 

THE    REPUBLICAN  TARTY  TRUE  TO  THE  PEOPLE. 

Now,  I  leave  all  that  with  this  single  reflection  :  That  it  is  to  me  for  mj 
party  a  matter  of  pride  and  congratulation  tliat  in  all  the  darkness  of  these 
years  we  have  not  deceived  you  by  any  cunning  device  to  flatter  your  passions 
or  your  hopes.  We  have  told  you  these  are  hard  times  ;  we  are  in  the  midst 


of  suffering,  and  there  is  no  patent  process  by  which  you  can  get  out  of  ;  It. 
You  cannot  print  yourselves  rioh.  You  have  got  to  suffer  and  be  strong,  ^fou 
have  got  to  endure  and  be  economical.  You  have  got  to  wait  in  patience  and 
do  justice,  keep  your  pledges,  keep  your  promises,  obey  the  laws,  and  by-and-by 
prosperity  will  come  with  its  blessings  upon  you.  "We  have  now  nothing  to 
take  back'.  We  rejoice  that  we  were  true  to  you  in  the  days  of  darkness,  and 
we  congratulate  you  that  you  have  stood  by  the  truth  until  your  hour  or  tri- 
umph has  come.  [Applause.] 

ANOTHER  REASON  FOR  TRIUMPH. 


there  were  two  reasons  why  I  thought  we  would  triumph  next  Tues- 
day. I  have  hinted  at  one  ;  I  will  now  speak  briefly  of  the  other.  I  mean  to 
say  that  the  great  audiences  that  have  gathered  everywhere  in  Ohio  during  this 
campaign  have  had  more  than  finance  in  their  hearts.  They  have  thought  of 
something  as  much  higher  than  finance  as  liberty  is  more  precious  than  cash. 
[Applause.]  They  have  been  moved—  and  I  ask  all  Democrats  to  hear  it  with 
patience  —  by  what  I  venture  to  call 

THE  NEW   REBELLION 

agamst  liberty  and  this  Government.  [Applause.]  I  do  not  mean  a  rebellion 
with  guns,  for  I  think  that  was  tried  to  the  hearts'  content  of  the  people  that 
undertook  it.  [Applause.]  Not  that,  but  another  one  no  less  wicked  in  pur- 
pose and  no  less  dangerous  in  character.  Let  me  try  in  a  few  words,  if  it  be 
possible  to  reach  all  this  vast  audience,  to  make  you  understand  what  I  mean 
by  this  new  rebellion. 

Fellow-citizens,  what  is  the  central  thought  in  American  life  ?  "What  is  the 
germ  out  of  which  all  our  institutions  were  born  and  have  been  developed  ? 
Let  me  give  it  to  you  in  a  word.  When  the  Mayflower  was  about  to  land  her 
precious  freight  upon  the  shore  of  Plymouth,  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  gathered  in 
the  cabin  of  that  little  ship,  on  a  stormy  November  day,  and  after  praying  to 
Almighty  God  for  the  success  of  their  great  enterprise  drew  up  and  signed 
what  is  known  in  history,  and  what  will  be  known  to  the  last  syllable  of 
recorded  time,  as 

"  THE  PILGRIM  COVENANT." 

in  that  covenant  is  one  sentence  which  I  ask  you  to  take  home  with  you  to- 
night. It  is  this  :  "  We  agree  before  God  and  each  other  that  the  freely-ex- 
pressed will  of  the  majority  shall  be  the  law  of  all,  which  we  will  all  obey." 
[Applause.]  Ah,  fellow-citizens,  it  does  honor  to  the  heads  and  the  hearts  of 
a  great  New  England  audience  here  on  this  "Western  Reserve  to  applaud  the 
grand  and  simple  sentiment  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers.  They  said,  "  No  stand- 
ing army  shall  be  needed  to  make  us  obey.  We  will  erect  here  in  America  a 
substitute  for  monarchy,  a  substitute  for  despotism,  and  that  substitute  shall 
be  the  will  of  the  majority  as  the  law  of  all.  "  And  that  germ,  planted  on  the 
rocky  shores  of  New  England,  has  sprung  up,  and  all  the  trees  of  our  lib- 
erty have  grown  from  it  into  the  beauty  and  glory  of  this  year  of  our  life. 
[Applause.] 

Over  against  that  there  grew  up  in  theSouth  a  spirit  in  absolute  antagonism 
to  the11  Pilgrim  Covenant."  That  spirit,  engendered  by  the"  institution  of 
slavery,  became  one  of  the  most  powerful  and  despotic  of  all  the  forces  on  the 
face  of  this  globe. 

Let  me  state,  even  as  an  apology  for  that  tyranny  —  if  you  and  I  owned  a  pow- 
der mill  in  the  city  of  Cleveland  ,  we  would  have  a  right  to  make  some  very 
stringent  pand  arbitrary  rules  about  that  powder  mill.  We  would  have  a  right 
to  say  that  no  man  should  enter  it  who  had  nails  in  the  heels  of  his  boots, 
because  a  single  step  might  explode  it  and  ruin  us  all.  But  that  would  be 
an  absurd  law  to  make  about  your  own  house  or  about  a  green  grocer's  shop. 

Now,  the  establishment  of  the  institution  of  slavery  required  laws  and  cus- 
toms absolutely  tyrannical  in  their  character.  NaBs  in  the  heels  of  your  boots 
in  a  powder  magazine  would  be  safety  compared  with  letting  education  into 
slavery.  [Applause.]  It  was  an  institution  that  would  be  set  on  fire  by  the 
torch  of  knowledge,  and  they  knew  it,  and  therefore  they  said,  "The  shining 
gates  of  knowledge  shall  be  shut  everywhere  where  a  slave  lives.  It  shall  be  a 


8 

crime  to  teach  a  black  man  the  alphabet ;  a  crime  greater  still  to  teach  him  the 
living  oracles  of  Almighty  God ;  for  if  once  the  golden  rule  of  Christ  finds  Its 
way  into  the  heart  of  a  negro  man,  and  he  learns  the  literature  of  liberty,  our 
institution  is  in  danger.  Hence  the  whole  Southern  people  became  a  discip- 
lined, banded,  absolute  despotism  over  the  politics  of  their  section.  They  had 
to  be.  I  do  not  blame  them.  I  only  blame  the  system  that  compelled  them  to 
be  so.  Now,  therefore,  all  before  the  war  the  Southern  people  were  the  best 
disciplined  politicians  in  this  world.  They  were  organized  on  the  one  great 
idea  of  protecting  their  Southern  society  with  slavery  as  its  center.  Do  you 
know  the  power  of  discipline  V  Here  is  a  vast  audience  of  ten  or  fifteen  thou- 
sand people  in  this  square,  and  you  are  not  organized.  One  resolute  captain 
with  one  hundred  resolute,  disciplined  soldiers,  such  as  stormed  the  .heights  of 
Kenesaw,  could  sweep  through  this  square  and  drive  us  all  out  hither  and 
thither  at  their  pleasure.  And  that  is  nothing  against  our  courage.  It  is  in 
favor  of  their  discipline.  The  clinched  fist  of  Southern  slaveholders  was  too 
much  for  the  great,  bulky,  proud  strength  of  the  North.  They  went  to  Wash- 
ington, consolidated  for  one  purpose,  and  they  called  all  their  fellows  around 
them  from  the  North,  and  said,  "  Give  way  to  our  doctrine,  and  you  have  our 
friendship  and  support.  Go  against  us  at  all,  and  we  rule  you  out  of  place  and 
power."  The  result  was  that  the  Southern  politicians  absolutely  commanded 
and  controlled  their  Northern  allies.  They  converted  the 

NORTHERN  DEMOCRATS  INTO  DOUGH-FACES 

of  the  most  abject  pattern  ;  and  you  know  here  to-night,  if  there  be  a  Demo- 
crat who  listens  to  me,  that  the  Republican  party  was  born  as  a  protest  against 
the  tyranny  of  that  Southern  political  hierarchy  that  made  slaves  of  all  North- 
ern Democrats.  [Applause.]  Three-quarters  of  the  Republican  party  were 
made  up  twenty-five  years  ago  by  Democrats  that  would  no  longer  consent 
to  be  slaves. 

Now,  why  am  I  going  into  that  long  tirade  in  the  past?  For  this  purpose: 
After  the  war  was  over,  and  reconstruction  completed,  thi  s  same  Southern  po- 
litical hierarchy  came  back  into  power  in  Washington,  and  to-day  they  are  as 
consolidated  as  the  slaveholding  politicians  of  1S60-:1  were!  ["Hear!" 
11  hear !  "1  And  to-day  they  hold  in  their  grip  absolutely  all  the  Northern  mem- 
bers of  their  party !  The  Northern  dough-face  has  again  appeared  in  Ameri- 
can politics,  and  he  is  found  wherever  a  Democrat  Congressman  sits.  [Ap- 
plause.] I  say  without  offense,  it  is  the  literal  truth  that  this  day  there  is  not 
in  all  this  country  a  free  and  absolutely  independent-minded  Democratic  mem- 
ber of  either  House  of  your  Congress  at  Washington.  [Applause.] 

Now  let  me  go  back  for  a  moment,  and  return  to  this  point  with  .1  reinforce- 
ment. Are  you  aware  that  there  is  one  thing  that  can  kill  this  country  and 
kill  it  beyond  all  hope  ?  That  one  thing  is  the  destruction  or  enslavement  of 
its  voting  population.  The  voting  population  of  the  United  States,  is  the  only 
sovereign  on  this  continent.  [Applause.]  You  talk  about  the  sovereign  States, 
or  even  the  sovereign  nation.  A  corporation  is  not  a  sovereign.  The  corpor- 
ation that  we  call  Ohio  was  made  by  the  people,  and  they  are  its  sovereigns. 
Even  the  grand  corporation  that  we  call  the  United  States  was  created  also  by 
the  people,  who  are  its  superiors  and  its  only  sovereigns.  Now,  therefore,  if 
anything  happens  in  this  country  to  corrupt,  or  enslave,  or  destroy  the  voters 
of  the  United  States,  that  is  an  irreparable  injury  to  liberty  and  the  Union. 
[Applause.]  If  in  Europe  they  slay  a  sovereign,  one  man  is  killed,  and  another 
can  be  found  to  take  his  place ;  but  when  they  slay  our  sovereign  there  is  no 
heir  to  the  throne ;  our  sovereign  has  no  successor. 

Well,  now,  that  is  rather  general,  but  I  ask  you  to  come  down  to  particulars. 
Let  me  make  this  statement  to  you  :  In  1872,  only  seven  years  ago,  in  the 
eleven  States  that  went  into  rebellion  there  were  cast,  at  a  free  and  fair  elec- 
tion, 759,000  Republican  votes  and  650,000  Democratic  votes.  There  is  liberty 
for  you  1  There  are  a  million  and  a  quarter  of  free  \  oting  citizens  casting  their 
ballots  for  the  men  of  their  choice  I 

This  country  has  been  growing  in  the  last  seven  years,  but  let  me  tell  yon 
what  calamity  has  happened  to  us.  In  those  same  eleven  late  rebel  States  there 
have  disappeared  apparently  from  the  face  of  the  earth  100,000  American  voters. 
Fellow  "Citizens,  that  is  au  awful  sentence  which  I  have  just  spoken  in  your 


hearing.  I  repeat  it.  In  eleven  States  of  this  Union  there  have  disappeared, 
apparently  from  the  face  of  the  earth,  400,000  American  voters.  Where  have 
they  gone  ?  They  are  all  Republicans.  Have  they  gone  to  the  Democratic 
party  ?  No  ;  for  the  Democratic  party  has  also  lost  some  of  its  voters  in  those 
btates.  What  has  happened?  I  will  tell  you.  That  spirit  of  Southern  tyranny, 
that  old  spirit  of  despotism  born  of  slavery,  has  arisen  and  killed  freedom  in 
the  South.  It  has  slain  liberty  in  at  least  seven  of  the  eleven  States  of  the 
South. 

MISSISSIPPI  BULL-DOZING. 

It  happened  in  this  wise  :  In  1872,  in  five  States  of  the  South,  we  had  a  marked, 
overwhelming,  and  fair  majority  of  Republican  votes.  For  example,  in  the  State 
of  Mississippi,  at  the  Congressional  election  of  1872,  there  were  thrown  80,80$ 
Republican  votes,  and  there  were  thrown  40,500  Democratic  votes.  That  wa& 
a  fair  test  of  the  strength  of  the  two  parties.  Five  Republicans  and  one 
Democrat  were  elected  to  Congress  from  the  State  of  Mississippi.  Six  years 
passed,  and  in  1878  there  were  just  2,056  Republican  votes  thrown  in  the  State 
of  Mississippi.  How  many  Democratic  votes  V  Thirty-five  thousand.  They 
had  fallen  off  5.000  ;  the  Republicans  had  fallen  off  78,000  vot^s.  Where  had 
the  78,000  voters  gone  V  I  will  tell  you.  The  rebel  army,  without  uniforms, 
organized  itself  as  Democratic  clubs  in  Mississippi,  and  armed  with  shot-guns 
and  rifles,  surrounded  the  houses  of  Republican  voters,  with  the  muzzles  of 
their  guns  at  their  heads,  in  the  night,  and  said,  "You  come  out  and  vote,  if 
you  dare.  We  will  kill  you  when  you  come."  And  all  over  the  State  of  Mis- 
sissippi the  Democratic  party,  being  the  old  rebel  army,  deployed  itself  among 
the  cabins  of  the  blacks  and  killed  liberty  everywhere  throughout  that  State. 

Why,  in  a  district  of  Mississippi  where,  in  1872, 15,000  Republican  votes  were 
polled  and  8,000  Democratic,  there  were  but  4,000  polled  for  a  rebel  general  and 
twelve  scattering  votes  polled  for  other  people — not  one  Republican  vote  put  in 
a  box  in  all  the  district.  So  it  was  in  Alabama.  So  it  was  in  Louisiana  in  part. 
So  it  was  in  the  two  Carplinas.  The  result  was  this  :  Four  hundred  thousand 
voters  substantially  annihilated.  And  the  further  result  was  this  :  Thirty 
Democratic  rebels  elected  in  Republican  districts  where  liberty  had  first  been 
slain ;  and  to-day  there  are  thirty  members  of  Congress,  not  one  of  whom  has 
any  more  right  to  sit  there  and  make  laws  for  you  and  me  than  an  inhabitant 
of  that  jail  has  a  right  to  go  there  and  make  laws  for  us.  [Applause.]  They 
are  not  created  Congressmen  by  virtue  of  law,  but  by  virtue  of  murder,  assas- 
sination, riot,  intimidation  :  and  on  the  dead  body  of  American  liberty  they 
stand  and  make  laws  for  you  and  me.  [Applause.]  That  gives  them  the  House. 
That  gives  them  the  Senate.  That  gives  the  old  slave  power  and  the  old  rebel 
power  its  grip  again  on  this  country,  and  it  gives  them  what  we  call  the  Solid 
South.  I  am  talking  plain  talk.  I  am  talking  words  that  I  expect  will  be  read 
by  every  gentleman  in  Congress  whom  I  am  to-night  denouncing.  I  expect  to 
meet  those  gentlemen  and  make  good  every  word  I  say.  [Great  applause.] 

THE  AIM  OF  THE    SOLID  SOUTH. 

Now.  what  purpose  has  this  Solid  South  in  thus  grasping  power  and  killing 
liberty  V  This  :  They  are  determined  to  make  their  old  "  lost  cause  "  the  tri- 
umphing cause.  Who  is  their  leader  to-day  y  By  all  odds,  the  most  popular 
man  south  of  Masoa  and  Dixon's  line  is  Jefferson  Davis,  of  Mississippi.  He 
is  to-day  their  hero  and  their  leader  ;  and  I  will  give  you  my  proof  of  it. 

THE  IUCE  PENSION  BILL. 

Do  you  know  that  our  friend  General  Rice  has  been  making  a  great  deal  of 
small  capital  out  of  the  fact  that  he  introduced  an  arrears  of  pensions  bill  for 
soldiers  V  You  all  know  what  kind  of  a  bill  that  was.  It  was  a  bill  granting 
arrears  of  pensions  to  our  soldiers  ;  but  it  also  granted  arrears  of  pensions  to 
all  rebel  soldiers  who  had  fought  in  the  Mexican  war.  We  made  a  law  that  the 
name  of  a  man  who  had  taken  up  arms  against  this  country  should  be  stricken 
from  our  pension  rolls,  and  he  should  receive  no  money  out  of  our  Treasury. 
That  law  Mr.  Rice's  bill  repealed  in  so  far  as  it  related  to  the  Mexican  soldiers, 
and  he  knew  and  was  told  plainly  that  that  clause  included  Jefferson  Davis  as 
one  of  the  pensioners  to  be  helped  by  that  law  ;  and  even  in  that  rebel  Congress 
tber*»  wtyv  Tiany  Democrats  that  could  not  quite  be  brought  up  to  the  scratch 


10 

to  vote  to  pension  Jefferson  Davis  ;  and  hence  Mr.  Rice's  bill  hung  in  the  com- 
mittee and  was  not  reported.  Then  a  Republican  member  of  the  House  moved 
to  discharge  the  committee  from  the  consideration  of  the  whole  subject.  He 
introduced  a  bill  that  did  not  have  Jefferson  Davis  in  it,  but  had  only  our  sol- 
diers in  it ;  and  that  bill,  not  Mr.  Rice's,  passed.  [Applause.]  But  when  that 
bill  got  to  the  Senate  a  Democrat  moved  to  add  the  Rice  section  that  covered 
all  rebel  pensioners  under  its  provisions  ;  and  then  it  was  that  Mr.  Hoar,  of 
Massachusetts,  called  the  attention  of  the  United  States  Senate  to  the  fact  that 
that  amendment  would  include  Jefferson  Davis,  and  lie  moved  an  amendment 
to  the  amendment  that  it  should  not  be  so  constructed. 

THE  DEFENDERS  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

What  followed  V  Immediately  there  sprang  to  his  feet  our  Ohio  Senator.  I 
blush  for  my  State  when  I  repeat  it.  Allen  G.  Thunnan  arose  to  his  feet  and 
said  :  "  The  Democratic  Legislature  of  Ohio  has  instructed  me  to  vote  to  pen- 
sion the  soldiers  of  the  Mexican  war,  and  they  did  not  instruct  me  to  make  an 
exception  against  Jefferson  Davis,  and  therefore  I  vote  against  Mr.  Hoar's 
amendment."  Thereupon  Mr.  Hoar  spoke  against  the  amendment  that  would 
pension  Jefferson  Davis,  and  the  moment  he  did  it  there  sprang  up  all  over  that 
chamber  champions  and  defenders  of  Jefferson  Davis.  The  tomahawks  liter- 
ally  flew,  or  rather  metaphorically  flew,  everywhere  at  the  head  of  any  Repub- 
lican that  dared  to  suggest  that  the  Government  ought  not  to  pension  Jefferson 
Davis.  Lamar,  of  Mississippi,  an  eloquent  and  able  Senator,  arose  in  his  place 
and  said  that  there  had  not  lived  on  this  earth,  from  the  days  of  Hampden  to 
Washington,  a  purer  patriot  and  a  nobler  man  than  Jefferson  Davis,  of  Missis- 
sippi. Man  after  man  exhausted  his  eloquence  in  defending  and  eulogizing  tbe 
arch-rebel,  who  led  this  country  into  oceans  of  blood.  I  give  you  that  to  show 
the  spirit  that  animates  the  people  that  rule  in  Congress  to-day. 

Now  let  me  say  a  word  more  that  connects  what  I  am  saying  with  the  old 
story  of  the  days  before  slavery  was  dead.  I  have  been  seventeen  years  a  mem- 
ber of  the  House,  and  in  all  that  period  I  never  have  once  known,  as  ray  friends 
here  on  the  stand  can  testify  in  their  experience,  of  the  members  of  the  Repub- 
lican party  binding  themselves  in  a  caucus  to  support  any  bill  before  Congress. 
I  have  seen  it  tried  once  or  twice,  but  I  have  always  seen  dozens  of  Republi- 
cans spring  to  their  feet  and  say,  ''•  I  am  a  free  man,  and  I  will  vote  according 
to  the  interests  of  my  constituents  and  the  dictates  of  my  conscience.. and  no 
caucus  shall  bind  me." 

TI1E  DEMOCRATIC  PARTY  UlTLEO  KY  THE  CAUCUS. 

But  the  moment  the  Democratic  party  got  back  into  power  again,  that  mo- 
ment they  organized  the  caucus— -the  secret  caucus,  the  oath-bound  cauci 
within  the  recent  extra  session  they  have  actually  taken  oaths  not  to  divulge 
what  occurred  in  caucus,  and  to  be  bound  by  whatever  the  caucus  decreed,  and 
I  have  known  man  after  man.  who  had  sworn  by  all  the  wicked  gods  at  once 
that  he  would  not  be  bound  to  go  for  a  certain  measure,  walk  out  of  the  caucus 
like  a  sheep  led  to  the  slaughter,  and  vote  for  the  bill  that  he  had  cursed.  They 
brought  bills  at  the  extra  session  so  full  of  manifest  errors  that  when  we  pointed 
them  out  they  would  admit  in  private  that  there  were  errors  that  ought  to  i«~ 
corrected,  but  they  would  say,  "  I  have  agreed  to  vote  for  it  without  amend- 
ment, and  I  will. "  We  pointed  out  wretchedly  bad  grammar  in  bills,  and  they 
would  not  even  correct  their  grammar,  because  the  caucus  had  adopted  it. 
[Laughter.]  Now,  therefore,  gentlemen,  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  is 
ruled  by  a  caucus.  It  has  ceased  to  be  a  deliberative  body.  It  is  ruled  by  a 
secret  caucus,  and  who  rules  the  caucus  ?  Two-thirds  of  its  members  are  mei! 
who  fought  this  country  in  war ;  who  tried  to  destroy  this  nation,  and  who  to- 
day look  upon  Jefferson  Davis  as  the  foremost  patriot  and  highest  political 
leader  in  America.  Therefore,  the  leadership  which  rules  you  is  the  rebellion 
in  Congress. 

THE  DEMOCRATIC  PLAN  FOR  SUCCESS  IN  1880. 

Well,  now,  what  of  that  ?  This  is  not  all.  They  look  over  the  field  of  l«8u 
%nd  they  say  they  have  got  in  their  liands  the  solid  South,  and  they  lack  only 
6ne  tbJmg  more.  They  lack  thirty-seven  electoral  votes  to  add  to  their  on* 


11 

tnuidred  and  thirty-five  j,nd  they  have  captured  the  offices  of  the  Government 
and  have  captured  the  Presidency.  The  South  will  have  the  whole  control  of 
this  Republic  in  its  hands. 

Now.  how  are  they  going  to  get  the  thirty-seven  electoral  votes  ?  There  are 
two  States  that  will  fill  the  bill— New  York  and  Ohio.  If  they  can  get  those 
two  States  next  year  they  have  indeed  captured  the  Government.  [A  voice  : 
•'  They  can't  have  them."]  This.good  friend  says  they  can't  have  them.  [A 
voice:  "Never."]  They  cannot  get  them  in  this  audience.  This  is  not  the 
place  to  capture  the  State  of  Ohio  for  rebel  brigadiers.  They  cannot  capture 
it  in  any  of  the  great  agricultural  counties  of  Ohio,  for  they  are  sound  and  true 
to  the  Union,  and  loyal  to  their  heart's  core.  They  cannot  go  into  the  central 
parts  of  patriotic  New  York  and  capture  the  thirty-seven  votes. 

But  I  will  tell  you,  fellow-citizens,  what  they  hope  to  do,  and  there  is  one 
way  by  which  they  may  succeed.  Let  me  stop  and  say  one  single  word  to  you 
about  the  great  cities.  Thomas  Jefferson  said  that  great  cities  were  the  sores 
on  the  body  politic— the  cancers  whose  roots  run  down  and  curse,  and  will  ulti- 
mately break  up  the  country  unless  they  are  ruled.  A  city  of  the  size  of  Cleve- 
land has  its  troubles.  A  great  city  like  the  city  of  New  York  has  passed  the 
bounds  of  safety  in  this  country. 

The  ablest  orator  that  Home  ever  produced,  in  describing  the  political  party 
led  by  Cataline,  said  that  all  the  bankrupts,  all  the  desperadoes,  all  the  thieves 
and  robbers  and  murderers  gathered  around  Cataline,  and  finally,  in  a  horrible 
figure  of  tremendous  power,  he  said  that  the  party  of  Cataline  was  "the  bilge 
water  of  Rome."  What  a  figure  that  is,  my  friends  !  What  do  you  mean  by 
"bilge  water?'"  .That  water  that  leaks  stealthily  through  your  planks  and 
down  below  the  deck  and  in  the  darkness,  out  of  sight,  out  of  reach  ;  it  reeks 
and  stagnates  and  stinks,  breeds  pestilence  and  brings  death  upon  all  that  are 
onboard.  Cicero  said  that  that  party  that  gathered  in  Rome  was  "the  bilge 
water  of  Rome,"  and  into  that  bilge  Ayater,  in  the  cities  of  Cincinnati  and  New 
York,  the  Democratic  party  desire  to  insert  their  political  pumps  and  pump  out 
the  hell  broth  that  can  poison  arid  corrupt  and  ruin  the  freedom  of  both  these 
great  cities,  and  gain  them  to  the  solid  South.  [Applause.]  That  is  the  pro- 
gramme. If  they  can  get  control  of  the  elections,  they  will  make  botli  those 
cities  strong  enough  Democratic  to  overwhelm  all  the  votes  that  the  green  lanes 
of  our  country  can  grow. 

THE  KLECTIOX  L'AWS. 

Xow,  what  is  in  the  way  of  that  ?  Just  two  things.  The  United  States  have 
passed  a  law  to  put  a  Democrat  at  one  end  of  the  ballot-box  in  the  great  cities 
and  a  Republican  at  the  other  end,  and  it  empowered  those  two  men,  not  to  run 
the  election,  but  to  stand  there  as  eyes  of  the  Government  and  look— look  first 
to  see  that  the  ballot-box  is  empty  when  they  begin,  and  then  to  stand  and  look 
into  the  face  of  every  man  that  votes,  and  if  he  comes  to  vote  twice  record  it 
and  have  him  brought  before  the  judge  and  sent  to  the  penitentiary  for  his 
crime;  and  to  stay  there  until  the  polls  are  closed,  and  then  not  allow  the  ballot- 
boxes  to  be  sent  off  and  the  vote  counted  in  secret  by  partisan  judges,  but  to  be 
opened  and  unfolded  and  read  in  the  light  of  day,  recorded  and  certified  to  by 
the  Republican  and  Democratic  officers,  so  that  the  justice  of  the  ballot-box 
should  not  be  outraged  and  freedom  should  not  be  slain. 

No  juster  law  was  ever  passed  on  this  continent  than  that.  It  saved  New 
York  from  the  supreraest  of  crimes.  It  elicited,  even  from  a  Democratic  com- 
mittee, of  which  A.  V.  Rice  \vas  a  member,  the  highest  possible  encomium  in 
1876.  And  he  and  '"Sunset "  Cox,  of  New  York,  in  their  official  report  to»Con- 
gress,  recommended  to  all  parts  of  the  country  the  admirable  election  law  of 
Congress  that  brought  into  unison  and  co-operation  the  officers  of  the  State 
and  the  officers  of  the  nation,  in  keeping  a  pure  ballot  and  a  free  election  in  the 
great  cities.  That  is  what  the  Democratic  party  said  of  this  law  in  1876.  But 
their  masters  of  the  caucus  had  not  then  given  out  their  decree.  They  have 
now  given  it,  and  the  decree  from  the  secret  caucus,  the  decree  from  their  old 
slave  masters,  has  now  gone  for  Mi :  --Take  those  two  men  away  from  the  bal- 
lot-box. Wipe  out  the  electioa  law  so  that  the  Tweeds  of  New  York  and  the 
Eph  Hollands  of  Cincinnati  may  have  free  course,  and  do  the  work,  and  fix 
1880  in  their  own  way.1'  That  is  the  programme  of  the  rebel  brigadiers  in 
Congress. 


12 

I  understand  that  Mr.  Ewing  said  here  the  other  night  he  was  amazed  to  hear 
Republicans  talk  as  though  they  were  afraid  of  a  few  rebel  brigadiers.  It  was  not 
so  surprising,  he  said,  that  our  friend  Foster  should  be  afraid  of  them,  throwing 
a  slur  at  him  because  he  was  not  in  the  army,  but  he  was  surprised  that  General 
Garfield  should  be  alarmed  at  the  brigadiers.  [Laughter.]  I  am  here  to  answer 
General  Ewing.  [Applause.]  As  to  who  is  afraid  of  brigadiers,  let  him  boast 
who  has  the  first  need  to  boast.  [Applause.] 

But  there  are  some  things  I  am  afraid  of.  and  I  confess  it  in  this  great  pres- 
ence. I  am  afraid  to  do  a  mean  thing.  [Applause  and  cries  of  "•  Good.'1]  I 
am  afraid  of  any  policy  that  will  let  the  vileness  of  Xew  York  city  pour  its- 
foul  slime  over  the  freedom  of  the  American  ballot-box  and  ruin  it.  [Ap- 
plause.] And  the  man  that  is  not  afraid  of  that  I  am  ashamed  of  him,  [Ap- 
plause.] 

THE  REBEL  PROBLEM. 

Now,  how  to  get  those  two  men  away  from  the  ballot-box  is  the  rebel  prob- 
lem. If  they  get  them  away,  the  solid  South  has  triumphed.  If  they  get 
them  away,  "the  lost  cause"  has  won,  and  Jefferson  Davis  is  crowned  as  the 
foremost  man  in  America.  If  they  get  them  away,  good-bye  for  a  generation 
to  come  to  the  old  "  pilgrim  covenant  "  and  the  doctrine  of  the  right  of  thp- 
majority  to  rule. 

Now,  how  did  they  undertake  to  get  them  away  V  In  this  way  :  They  siid 
to  us,  "At  last  we  have  got  you.  We  have  the  control  of  the  Treasury.  Xc- 
money  can  be  employed  to  support  the  Government  unless  we  vote  it  by  an 
appropriation.  Now,  we  tell  you  that  we  will  never  vote  one  dollar  to  support 
your  Government  until  you  join  us  in  tearing  down  that  election  law  and  take- 
away those  two  witnesses  from  the  polls."  That  is  what  they  told  us. 

Then  we  answered  them  thus  :  "  Eighteen  years  ago  you  were  in  power  in 
this  Congress,  and  the  last  act  of  your  domination  was  this  :  You  told  us  that 
if  we  dared  to  elect  Abraham  Lincoln  President  you  would  shoot  our  Govern- 
ment to  death  ;  and  we  answered, '  AVe  are  free  men,  begotten  of  freedom,  and 
are  accustomed  to  vote  our  thoughts.  We  believe  in  Abraham  Lincoln.  We 
will  elect  him  President.'  And  we  did.  [Applause.]  And  then  eleven 
great  States  declared  that  they  would  shoot  the  Union  to  death,  and  we  api 
to  the  majesty  of  the  great  North  land  and  went  out  onto  a  thousand  bloodj 
battle-fields,  and  we  shot  the  shooters  to  death  and  saved  this  Union  alive. 
[Applause.]  And  for  eighteen  years  you  have  been  in  exile,  banished  from 
power,  and  now,  by  virtue  of  murder,  and  assassination,  and  the  slaying  of 
liberty,  you  have  come  back  ;  and  the  first  act  you  do  on  your  return  is  not  now 
courageously  to  dare  us  out  to  battle,  but  like  assassins,  cowards,  murderers, 
you  come  to  us  and  say, '  With  our  hand  on  the  throat  of  your  Government,  we 
will  starve  it  to  death  if  you  do  not  let  us  pluck  down  the  sacred  laws  that  pro- 
tect the  purity  of  elections.'  "  And  we  said  to  them  :  "By  the  sacred  mem- 
ories of  eighteen  years  ago,  we  reply,  '  You  shall  not  starve  this  Government 
to  death,  nor  shall  you  tear  down  these  laws.  The  men  that  saved  it  in  battle 
will  now  feed  it  in  peace.  [Great  applause.]  The  men  that  bore  it  on 
their  shields  in  the  hour  of  death  will  feed  it  with  the  gift  of  their  hands  in 
the  hour  of  its  glory.' "  And  they  said,  "  You  shall  try  it."  And  they  passed 
their  iniquitous  bill.  They  took  the  bread  of  the  Government  and  spread  upon 
it  the  poison  of  the  bilge  water  of  New  York  and  Cincinnati,  and  they  said  to 
the  Government,  "  Eat  this  or  starve. "  They  passed  the  iniquity  through  vhe 
House  and  through  the  Senate,  and  it  went  to  an  Ohio  Republican  who  sits  in 
the  seat  of  the  great  Washington,  [applause,]  whose  arm  is  mailed  with  the 
thunderbolt  of  the  Constitution  ;  and  he  hurled  the  power  of  his  veto  against 
the  wicked  bill,  and  killed  it.  Five  times  they  tried  the  iniquity,  and  live 
times  he  killed  with  the  power  of  the  Constitution  the  wickedness  they  sought 
to  perpetrate.  [Applause.]  And  then,  like  sneaking  cowards  as  they  were, 
they  passed  the  appropriations  all  but  six  hundred  thousand  dollars  and  said, 
"  We  will  come  back  to  it  next  winter,  and  we  will  never  give  it  up  until  Ave 
conquer  you ;  and  in  the  meantime,"  they  said,  "  we  will  appeal  to  the  people 
at  the  ballot-box. "  They  are  now  making  that  appeal.  And  so  are  we.  That 
is  what  we  are  here  for  to-night.  [Applause.]  And  it  is  that  appeal  that 
awakens  this  people  as  it  has  never  been  awakened  before  since  the  days  of 


13      - 

Vallandigham  and  Brough,  especially  Brough.  [Laughter.]  In  the. presence 
of  this  people,  in  the  heart  of  this  Old  Reserve,  I  feel  the  consciousness  of  our 
strength  and  the  assurance  of  our  victory.  [Applause.] 

AN  APPEAL  TO  YOUNG  MEN. 

Now.  fellow-citizens,  a  word  before  I  leave  you,  on  the  very  eve  of  the 
holy  day  of  God— a  tit  moment  to  consecrate  ourselves  finally  to  the  great  work 
of  next  Tuesday  morning.  I  see  in  this  great  audience  to-night  a  great  many 
young  men,  young  men  who  are  about  to  east  their  first  vote.  I  want  to  give 
yoi<  a  word  of  suggestion  and  advice.  I  heard  a  very  brilliant  thing  said  by  a 
boy  the  other  day  up  in  one  of  our  northwestern  counties.  He  said  to  me, 
"  General,  I  have  a  great  mind  to  vote  the  Democratic  ticket."  That  was  not 
the  brilliant  thing.  [Laughter.]  I  said  to  him,  "Why?1'  "Why,"  said  he, 
"  my  father  is  a  Republican  and  my  brothers  are  Republicans,  and  I  am  a  Re- 
publican all  over,  but  I  want  to  be  an  independent  man,  and  I  don't  want  any- 
body to  say,  'That  fellow  votes  the  Republican  ticket  just  because  his  dad 
does,'  and  I  have  half  a  mind  to  vote  the  Democratic  ticket  just  to  prove  my 
Independence."  I  did  not  like  the  thing  the  boy  suggested,  but  I  did  admire 
the  spirit  of  the  boy  that  wanted  to  have  some  independence  of  his  own. 

Xow,  I  tell  you.  young  man.  don't  vote  the  Republican  ticket  just  because 
your  father  votes  it.  Don't  vote  the  Democratic  ticket,  even  if  he  does  vote 
it.  [Laughter.]  But  let  me  give  you  this  one  word  of  advice,  as  you  are  about 
to  pitch  your  tent  in  one  of  the  great  political  camps.  Your  life  is  full  and 
buoyant  with  hope  no\v.  and  I  beg  you,  when  you  pitch  your  tent,  pitch  it  among 
the  living  and  not  among  the  dead.  [Applause.]  If  you  are  at  all  inclined  to 
pitch  it  among  the  Democratic  people  and  with  that  party,  let  me  go  with  you 
for  a  moment  while  we  survey  the  ground  where  I  hope  you  will  not  shortly  lie. 
[Laughter.]  It  is  a  sad  place,  young  man,  for  you  to  put  your  young  life  into 
It  is  to  me  far  more  like  a  grave-yard  than  like  a  camp  for  the  living.  Look  at 
it !  It  is  billowed  all  over  with  the  graves  of  dead  issues,  of  buried  opinions, 
of  exploded  theories,  of  disgraced  doctrines.  You  cannot  live  in  comfort  in 
such  a  place.  [Laughter.]  Why,  look  here  '.  Here  is  a  little  double  mound.  I 
look  down  on  it  and  I  read,  '•  Sacred  to  the  memory  of  squatter  sovereignty 
and  the  Dred  Scott  decision."  A  million  and  a  half  of  Democrats  voted  for 
that,  but  it  has  been  dead  fifteen  years — died  by  the  hand  of  Abraham  Lincoln, 
and  here  it  lies.  [Applause.]  Young  man,  that  is  not  the  place  for  you. 

But  look  a  little  further.  Here  is  another  monument,  a  black  tomb,  and  be- 
side it,  as  our  distinguished  friend  said,  there  towers  to  the  sky  a  monument 
of  four  million  pairs  of  human  fetters  taken  from  the  arms  of  slaves,  and  I 
read  on  its  little  headstone  this  :  "Sacred  to  the  memory  of  human  slavery. " 
For  forty  years  of  its  infamous  life  the  Democratic  party  taught  that  it  was 
divine— God's  institution.  They  defended  it,  they  stood  around  it,  they  fol- 
lowed it  to  its  grave  as  a  mourner.  But  here  it  lies,  dead  by  the  hand  of  Abra- 
ham Lincoln.  [Applause.]  Dead  by  the  power  of  the  Republican  party.  [Ap- 
plause.] Dead  by  the  justice  of  Almighty  God.  [Great  applause  and  cheers.] 
Don't  camp  there,  young  man. 

But  here  is  another.  A  little  brimstone  tomb,  [laughter,]  and  ]£read  across 
its  yellow  face  in  lurid,  bloody  lines  these  words  :  "  Sacred  to  the  memory  of 
State  sovereignty  and  secession."  Twelve  millions  of  Democrats  mustered 
around  it  in  arms  to  keep  it  alive  ;  but  here  it  lies,  shot  to  death  by  the  mill- 
ion guns  of  the  Republic.  [Applause.]  Here  it  lies,  its  shrine  burned  to  ashes 
under  the  blazing  rafters  of  the  burning  Confederacy.  [Applause.]  It  is 
dead !  I  would  not  have  you  stay  in  there  a  minute,  even  in  this  balmy  night 
air,  to  look  at  such  a  place.  [Laughter.] 

But  just  before  I  leave  it  I  discover  a  new-made  grave,  a  little  mound— short. 
The  grass  has  hardly  sprouted  over  it,  and  all  around  it  I  see  .torn  pieces  of 
paper  with  the  word  "fiat"  On  them,  [laughter,]  and  I  look  down  in  curiosity, 
Wondering  what  the  little  grave  is,  and  I  read  on  it :  "Sacred  to  the  memory  of 
the  Rag  Baby,  [laughter  :]  nursed  in  the  brain  of  all  the  fanaticism  of  the 
world,  [laughter  ;]  rocked,  by  Thomas  Ewing,  George  H.  Pendleton,  Samuel 
Cary,  and  a  few  others  throughout  the  land."  But  it  died  on  the  1st  of  January, 
1879,  and  the  one  hundred  and  forty  millions  of  gold  that  God  made,  and  not 
fiat  power,  lie  upon  its  little  carcass  to  keep  it  down  forever.  [Prolonged  ap- 
plause,] 


14 

Oh,  young  man,  come  out  of  that !  [Laughter.]  That  is  iv)  place  in  which 
to  put  your  young  life.  Come  out,  and  come  over  into  this  camp  of  liberty,  of 
order,  of  law,  of  justice^  of  freedom,  ["Amen,"]  of  all  that  is  glorious  under 
these  night  stars. 

Is  there  any  death  here  in  our  camp  ?  Yes!  Yes!  Three  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  soldiers,  the  noblest  band  that  ever  trod  the  earth,  died  to  make  this 
camp  a  camp  of  glory  and  of  liberty  forever.  [Tremendous  applau 

But  there  are  no  dead  issues  here.  There  are  no  dead  ideas  here.  Hang  out 
our  banner  from  under  the  blue  sky  this  night  until  it  shall  s\vi'»-j»  thi;  i^m-ii 
turf  under  your  feet!  It  hangs  over  our  camp.  Head  away  up  under  tbi-  s:;irs 
the  inscription  we  have  written  on  it,  lo !  these  twenty-five  years. 

Twenty-five  years  ago  the  Republican  party  w:vs  married  to  libertv.  and  this 
is  our  silver  wedding*  fellow  citizens.  [Great  applause.]  A  worthily  married 
pair  love  each  other  better  on  the  day  of  their  silver  wedding  than  on  tin:  day 
of  their  first  espousals  ;  and  we  are  truer  to  liberty  to-day  and  deans-  t,>  (ir-d 
than  we  were  when  we  spoke  our  first  word  of  liberty.  Head  away  up  liinl-.-r 
the  sky  across  our  starry  banner  that  first  word  we  uttered  t  \venty-li\v  years 
ago.  What  was  it  ¥  ''Slavery  shall  never  extend  over  another  loot  of  the'  Ter- 
ritories of  the  Great  West."  [Applause.]  Isthat  dead  or  alive  V  Alive,  thank 
God,  fore vermore !  [Applause.]  And  truer  to-ni.^ht  than  it  \uis  the  hour  it 
was  written.  [Applause.]  Then  it'  was  a  hope,  a  promise,  a  purpose.  To-uight 
it  is  equal  with  the  stars— immortal  history  and  immortal  truth.  [Applaust.j 

Come  down  the  glorious  steps  of  our  banner.  Every  great  record  we  have 
made  we  have  vindicated  with  our  blood  and  with  our  truth.  It  sweeps  the 
ground,  and  it  touches  the  star*;.  Cotne  there,  young  man,  and  put  in  your 
young  life  where  all  is  living,  and  where  nothing  is  dead  but  the  heroes  that 
defended  it !  [Applause.]  I  think  these  young  men  will  do  that.  [*'0f  course 
they  will!"] 

Gentlemen,  we  an;  closing  this  memorable  campaign.  We  have  got  our 
enemies  on  the  run  everywhere.  [Laughter.]  And  all  you  need  to  do  in  this 
uoble  old  city,  this  capital  of  the  "Western  Reserve,  is  to  follow  them  up  and 
finish  it  by  snowing  the  rebellion  under  once  more.  We  stand  on  an  isthmus. 
This  year  and  next  is  the  narrrow  isthmus  between  us  and  perpetual  victory 
If  you  can  win  now  and  win  in  1880,  then  the  very  stars  in  their  courses  wilj 
tight  for  us.  [Applause.]  The  census  will  do  the  work,  and  will  give  us  thirty 
more  free  men  of  the  North  in  our  Congress  that  will  make  up  for  the  rebellioc 
of  the  South.  [Great  applause.]  Wo  are  posted  here  as  the  Greeks  wer« 
posted  at  Thermopylae  to  meet  this  one  great  Barbarian  Xerxes  of  the  isth- 
mus. Stand  in  your  places,  men  of  Ohio  I  Fight  this  battle,  win  this  vie- 
tory,  and  then  one  more  puts  you  in  safety  forever ' 

I  thank  you,  fellow-citizens,  for  your  patience- 


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